Reader/writer device for noncontact ic card, communication system and noncontact communication method

ABSTRACT

A reader/writer device performs noncontact communication with a noncontact IC card section ( 400 ) to which power is supplied from a power storage section ( 310 ) of a portable terminal ( 300 ) whereupon the card section is mounted. In the reader/writer device ( 100 ), a noncontact communication section ( 110 ) transmits and receives information to and from the IC card section ( 400 ) by noncontact communication, and a noncontact charging section ( 120 ) supplies power to the power storage section ( 310 ) in noncontact manner. When noncontact communication with the IC card section ( 400 ) cannot be performed by controlling the noncontact communication section ( 110 ), a contactless communication/charging control section ( 130 ) controls the noncontact charging section ( 120 ) to charge the power storage section ( 310 ) of the portable terminal ( 300 ) in noncontact manner, then, controls the noncontact communication section ( 110 ) again to perform noncontact communication.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a contactless type IC cardreader/writer apparatus that carries out contactless communication witha contactless type IC card mounted on portable type electronic devices,a communication system provided therewith and a contactlesscommunication method.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, magnetic cards such as credit cards and prepaid cardsare being replaced by IC (integrated circuit) cards incorporatingelectronic money and capable of providing a plurality of services with asingle card, in order to handle a large volume of information andprovide card services requiring safety and reliability.

IC cards incorporate an IC chip such as a CPU and IC memory, provide ahigh level of security, have an arithmetic processing function and canexecute processing such as comparison and judgment within the cards.This allows more sophisticated methods of use than magnetic cards to beconceived and new services are being developed in a variety of businessfields such as means of transportation, business transactions andsecurity.

IC cards can be roughly classified into a “contact type” in which metalports of an IC chip are exposed on the card surface and a “contactlesstype” which carries out communication using electromagnetic wave.Contactless type IC cards can be classified into a “close coupled type,”“proximate type,” “vicinity type” and “microwave type” depending on thecommunication distance between the contactless type IC card itself and areader/writer capable of reading and writing data from and into the ICcard.

Such a contactless type IC card superimposes information onelectromagnetic wave which is a carrier wave, sends and receivesinformation to and from the reader/writer, and electromagnetic inductiontype IC cards using a carrier frequency of 13.56 MHz in particular areattracting attention in applications such as electronic tickets,electronic money, access management, amusement, administration, publiccards. Furthermore, vicinity type IC cards which are based on anelectromagnetic induction scheme using the same frequency are alsoreceiving attention in applications such as room access management andamusement.

These proximate type or vicinity type contactless IC cards do notincorporate any battery and cause an IC inside the card to operate andsend responses using power supplied from a reader/writer byelectromagnetic induction. Furthermore, when this contactless type ICcard is incorporated in a mobile phone, that is, in the case of acontactless IC card (contactless IC) built in a portable terminal, thebuilt-in contactless type IC card generally operates on power suppliedfrom the portable terminal itself.

A service for omitting ticket issuing operation or the like is known,which is delivered to such a contactless type IC card mounted in aportable terminal by contactless communication with a reader/writerapparatus capable of contactless communication provided in an automaticturnstile. The IC function mounted in a mobile phone generally includesboth contact and contactless interfaces.

Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of providing a battery chargingcoil in the phone body so that when power in a secondary battery of amobile phone is consumed, for example, a charging section which is anoutside device performs charging targeted at the coil without contact orPatent Document 2 discloses a technique of receiving communication wavebetween a mobile phone and a base station using a charging antennamounted in the mobile phone and realizing charging without contact.

However, such a configuration with a contactless type IC card mounted ina mobile phone that secures power in this way even cannot use thecontactless type IC card when the battery of the mobile phone dies.

To be more specific, when the battery of the mobile phone dies whilereceiving a service using the contactless type IC card, it is no longerpossible to report an end of service delivery using the contactless typeIC card.

On the other hand, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique of providinga secondary battery in a contactless type IC card itself, securing powerthrough communication with a reader/writer having contactlesscommunication capability or using electromagnetic wave emitted from amobile phone so as to charge the secondary battery of the contactlesstype IC card itself.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-4639Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 2984643 Patent Document 3:Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-6592 DISCLOSURE OFINVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

However, although Patent Document 3 discloses a configuration in whichcontactless communication is performed and a secondary battery of thecard itself can be charged on the reader/writer side, there is a problemwith this configuration of Patent Document 3 that contactlesscommunication and power supply are always performed simultaneously andtherefore increase current consumption.

Furthermore, as described above, generally, in a mobile phone mounting acontactless type IC card, the contactless type IC card does not have apower source inside and operates on power supplied from a secondarybattery of the mobile phone.

Thus, there is a demand for such a reader/writer that can communicate ina contactless manner with a contactless type IC card mounted in a mobilephone without a built-in secondary battery, even when the battery of themobile phone dies.

That is, unlike Patent Document 3, there is a demand for a reader/writerthat not only carries out contactless communication with an activecontactless type IC card mounted on a mobile phone, but that alsosupplies power to allow the contactless type IC card to operate, in thesame way as a passive contactless type IC card.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide acontactless type IC card reader/writer apparatus that, even when thebattery of a mobile phone mounting a contactless type IC card without abuilt-in power source dies, enables contactless communication with thecontactless type IC card with reduced power consumption, a communicationsystem with this reader/writer apparatus, and a contactlesscommunication method.

Means for Solving the Problem

The reader/writer apparatus of the present invention is a contactlesstype IC card reader/writer apparatus that carries out contactlesscommunication with a contactless type IC card, the contactless typeintegrated circuit card not having a built-in power source and receivinga supply of power from a power storage section in a portable terminal inwhich the contactless type IC card is mounted, and this reader/writerapparatus adopts a configuration including: a contactless communicationsection that sends and receives information to and from the contactlesstype IC card by contactless communication; a contactless chargingsection that supplies power to the power storage section in the portableterminal in a contactless manner; a detection section that detects thestate of contactless communication; and a control section that controlsswitching between the contactless communication section and thecontactless charging section based on the detection result in thedetection section to select between sending and receiving information bythe contactless communication, and supplying power in a contactlessmanner, and, in this reader/writer apparatus, when contactlesscommunication with the contactless type IC card using the contactlesscommunication section is not possible, the control section controls thecontactless charging section to charge the power storage section in theportable terminal a certain period of time and then controls thecontactless communication section again to carry out contactlesscommunication.

The communication system of the present invention is a communicationsystem including a portable terminal mounting a contactless type IC cardthat does not have a built-in power source, and a contactless typeintegrated circuit card reader/writer apparatus that carries outcontactless communication with the contactless type integrated circuitcard, the portable terminal comprising a power storage section, which isa power source of the portable terminal and supplies power to thecontactless type IC card, the reader/writer apparatus including: acontactless communication section that sends and receives information toand from the contactless type IC card by contactless communication; acontactless charging section that supplies power to the power storagesection in the portable terminal in a contactless manner; a detectionsection that detects the state of contactless communication; and acontrol section that controls switching between the contactlesscommunication section and the contactless charging section based on thedetection result in the detection section to select between sending andreceiving information by the contactless communication and supplyingpower in a contactless manner, and in this communication system, whencontactless communication with the contactless type IC card using thecontactless communication section is not possible, the control sectioncontrols the contactless charging section to charge the power storagesection in the portable terminal a certain period of time and thencontrols the contactless communication section again to carry outcontactless communication.

The contactless communication method of the present invention is acontactless communication method for carrying out contactlesscommunication with a contactless type IC card that does not have abuilt-in power source and receives a supply of power from a powerstorage section in a portable terminal in which the contactless type ICcard is mounted, the contactless communication method including: acontactless communication step sending and receiving information to andfrom the contactless type IC card by contactless communication, acontactless charging step of stopping the contactless communication whencontactless communication is not possible and supplying power to thepower storage section in the portable terminal in a contactless mannerand carrying out contactless communication again after performing thecontactless power supply a certain period of time.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

With the present invention, even when the battery of a mobile phonemounting a contactless type IC card without a built-in power sourcedies, it is possible to carry out contactless communication with thecontactless type IC card with reduced power consumption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of acommunication system provided with a reader/writer apparatus accordingto an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating charging operation of thereader/writer apparatus according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained indetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration ofcommunication system 200 provided with reader/writer apparatus 100 (“R/Wapparatus” in FIG. 1) according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

In communication system 200 shown in FIG. 1, reader/writer apparatus 100carries out contactless communication with contactless type IC card(hereinafter, “IC card section”) 400 mounted in mobile phone 300 as aportable terminal, and also supplies power to allow IC card section 400to carry out contactless communication operation via mobile phone 300.

The contactless type IC card incorporates an IC chip provided with anon-volatile memory having a secure region and an antenna, and alsoincludes those not in a card shape, for example, RFID (Radio FrequencyIdentification).

In this system 200, contactless communication between reader/writerapparatus 100 and IC card section 400 is carried out as symmetriccommunication using, for example, a 13.56-MHz frequency band withoutusing subcarriers.

First, mobile phone 300 mounted with contactless type IC card (“IC cardsection”) 400 as a portable terminal will be explained.

By incorporating a contactless type IC card as IC card section 400,mobile phone 300 is provided with an IC function in addition to aconversation function.

IC card section 400 incorporates a non-volatile memory and a radiocommunication chip, and can exchange data such as settlement of fees byonly holding IC card section 400 over reader/writer apparatus 100.

Mobile phone 300 provided with IC card section 400 provides a variety offunctions using the conversation function and the function of IC cardsection 400 such as prepaid type electronic money, electronic coupon,credit card function so that the mobile phone can be used as asubstitute for a wallet.

Mobile phone 300 has the IC function by mounting a contactless type ICcard as IC card section 400 and is provided with power storage section310 which serves as a power source of mobile phone 300, power controlsection 320 and contactless charging section 330.

IC card section 400 incorporates no power source and is provided withcontactless communication section 410 that carries out contactlesscommunication with reader/writer apparatus 100 using power supplied frompower storage section 310 of mobile phone 300 as a power source.

This contactless communication section 410 is provided with an antennafor receiving a signal from an antenna of contactless communicationsection 110 by making IC card section 400 to come close to contactlesscommunication section 110 of reader/writer apparatus 100, and carriesout contactless communication with contactless communication section 110using this antenna. For example, through transmission and reception ofsignals to and from contactless communication section 110 ofreader/writer apparatus 100 by contactless communication section 410, ICcard section 400 carries out mutual authentication with reader/writerapparatus 400 and reads and writes data.

Power storage section 310 is a capacitor such as a secondary battery orcondenser. When power storage section 310 is a secondary battery, it ispreferable to use a high capacity type power storage section such aslithium ion battery and nickel hydrogen battery, but it is equallypossible to use a lithium polymer battery using gel polymer or inorganicsolid electrolyte for the electrolyte, all-solid electrolyte battery,lead storage battery nickel cadmium battery and so on.

On the other hand, when power storage section 310 is a capacitor, thecapacitor is an immediately chargeable or dischargeable medium. For thisreason, when power is supplied from the capacitor as power storagesection 310 to IC card section 400 having a contactless IC function,compared to the case where power storage section 310 is a secondarybattery, a lapse of a certain period of time is not required to chargethe secondary battery, and it is possible to charge in a shorter timethan the certain period of time and discharge immediately. That is, theuse of a capacitor for power storage section 310 makes it possible tosupply power to IC card section 400 virtually in parallel with chargingand start contactless communication. [0036] By the way, thisconfiguration may be acquired in advance by switching control section136 on the reader/writer apparatus 100 side or may be reported to thereader/writer apparatus 100 side during contactless communication bymobile phone 300. In the present embodiment, power storage section 310will be explained as the secondary battery.

This power storage section 310 is a power source for mobile phone 300itself, supplies power to IC card section 400 mounted in mobile phone300 and serves as a power source for IC card section 400, and powercontrol section 320 controls charging and discharging.

Power control section 320 controls charging and discharging of powerstored in power storage section 310. To be more specific, power controlsection 320 charges power storage section 310 using power supplied viacontactless charging section 330.

Furthermore, power control section 320 controls the power charged inpower storage section 310 to be supplied to each component of mobilephone 300 itself and also controls the power to supply to IC cardsection 400.

When coming close contactless charging section 120 of reader/writerapparatus 100, contactless charging section 330 acquires power viacontactless charging section 120.

For example, contactless charging section 330 has an antenna coil (notshown) for receiving electromagnetic wave transmitted from an antennacoil (not shown) provided in contactless charging section 120 ofreader/writer apparatus 100 and a converter (not shown) for convertingpower (AC) generated in the antenna coil to a direct current. The directcurrent outputted from this converter is supplied to power storagesection 310 via power control section 320, thereby charging powerstorage section 310.

That is, mobile phone 300 mounting the contactless type IC card as ICcard section 400 carries out contactless communication withreader/writer apparatus 100 and also receives power to operate IC cardsection 400 supplied from reader/writer apparatus 100.

Reader/writer apparatus 100 has contactless communication section 110,contactless charging section 120 and contactless communication/chargingcontrol section 130 that controls contactless communication section 110and contactless charging section 120.

Suppose this reader/writer apparatus 100 is applied to an automaticturnstile (ticket checking apparatus) here and the payment procedure canbe performed by simply holding the mobile phone mounting the contactlesstype IC card over a predetermined location of reader/writer apparatus100. Reader/writer apparatus 100 may also be applied as a reader/writerapparatus for a personal computer or applied to a POS (Point Of Sales)apparatus using prepaid type electronic money.

When IC card section 400 mounted in mobile phone 300 comes close,contactless communication section 110 transmits and receives informationto and from contactless communication section 410 of IC card section 400by contactless communication.

When contactless charging section 330 of mobile phone 300 comes close,contactless charging section 120 supplies power to contactless chargingsection 330 without contacting contactless charging section 330.

Contactless charging section 120 has an antenna coil (not shown) fortransmitting electromagnetic wave and power is supplied to power storagesection 310 when electromagnetic wave transmitted from this antenna coilis received in contactless charging section 330.

Here, when contactless charging section 120 is located in a positionwhere power can be supplied to contactless charging section 330, supposecontactless communication section 110 is located in a position where itis possible to carry out contactless communication with contactlesscommunication section 410 of IC card section 400.

Contactless communication/charging control section 130 has communicationstate detection section 132, switching section 134 and switching controlsection 136.

Communication state detection section 132 is controlled by switchingcontrol section 136, monitors the state of communication betweencontactless communication section 110 and contactless communicationsection 410 on the IC card section 400 side, detects cases wherecontactless communication is not carried out, and outputs the detectionresults to switching control section 136.

Under the control of switching control section 136, switching section134 can switch between contactless communication section 110 andcontactless charging section 120 and carry out contactless communicationor contactless charging for mobile phone 300 that has come close.

Switching control section 136 controls switching between contactlesscommunication section 110 and contactless charging section 120 accordingto the result of state of contactless communication with contactlesscommunication section 410 using contactless communication section 110and the state of charging of mobile phone 300 using contactless chargingsection 120.

To be more specific, when contactless communication processing withcontactless communication section 410 of IC card section 400 in mobilephone 300 that has come close fails, switching control section 136switches the component to use from contactless communication section 110to contactless charging section 120 via switching section 134. Thiscauses contactless communication/charging control section 130 to stopcontactless communication using contactless communication section 110and carry out contactless charging processing via contactless chargingsection 120.

Furthermore, switching control section 136 detects that contactlesscharging has been performed for certain period of time via contactlesscharging section 120 using time counting section 138, and carries outcontactless communication switching the component to use fromcontactless charging section 120 to contactless communication section110 via switching section 134. This “certain period of time” is the timefrom when a command for switching from contactless communication section110 to contactless charging section 120 is outputted to switchingsection 134, and is measured in time counting section 138.

Through such switching control section 136, reader/writer apparatus 100performs contactless charging of mobile phone 300 after contactlesscommunication fails, performs contactless charging a certain period oftime and then stops contactless charging and carries out contactlesscommunication.

Next, the operations of the apparatus configured as shown above will beexplained using the flowchart shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a charging operation by reader/writerapparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, suppose mobile phone 300 can start contactless communicationwith reader/writer apparatus 100 via IC card section 400 mounted inmobile phone 300, and has come up to a position where power can besupplied from reader/writer apparatus 100.

When mobile phone 300 mounting IC card section 400 which is thecontactless type IC card comes close, in step S1, contactlesscommunication section 110 in reader/writer apparatus 100 startscontactless communication with contactless communication section 410 ofIC card section 400.

In this case, communication state detection section 132 monitors thestate of communication state by contactless communication section 110and decides whether or not communication has failed.

Next, in step S2, switching control section 136 in reader/writerapparatus 100 decides whether or not the detection result showing acommunication failure has been inputted from communication statedetection section 132, repeats step S2 when not inputted, or moves tostep S3 when inputted.

In step S3, switching control section 136 switches contactlesscommunication section 110 over to contactless charging section 120 viaswitching section 134, starts supplying power to contactless chargingsection 330 and moves to step S4.

That is, in step S3, contactless communication/charging control section130 stops contactless communication section 110, and starts chargingpower storage section 310 of mobile phone 300 via contactless chargingsection 330 using contactless charging section 120.

In step S4, switching control section 136 during contactless chargingdecides whether or not a certain period of time has passed using timeinformation from time counting section 138, repeats step S4 until thecertain period of time elapses or moves to step S5 when the certainperiod of time has passed.

In step S5, switching control section 136 in reader/writer apparatus 100switches contactless charging section 120 over to contactlesscommunication section 110 via switching section 134, starts contactlesscommunication and moves to step S6.

In step S6, contactless communication/charging control section 130decides whether or not contactless communication via contactlesscommunication section 110 has ended, that is, decides whethertransmission and reception of information by contactless communicationhas ended, and returns to step S2 when not ended.

Thus, when carrying out contactless communication with mobile phone 300mounting a contactless type IC card as IC card section 400,reader/writer apparatus 100 supplies power to contactless chargingsection 330 of mobile phone 300 when contactless communication is notpossible.

That is, when it is not possible to carry out contactless communicationwith contactless communication section 410 of IC card section 400 inmobile phone 300 using contactless communication section 110,reader/writer apparatus 100 decides that the battery in power storagesection 310 of mobile phone 300 is dead.

Reader/writer apparatus 100 then supplies power (to be more specific,electromagnetic wave) to contactless charging section 330 of mobilephone 300 using contactless charging section 120, and contactlesscharging section 330 that has received power outputs power to powerstorage section 310 via power control section 320. Time counting section138 counts a certain period of time, and power storage section 310 ischarged through this certain period of time of charging. The powersupply from charged power storage section 310 allows IC card section 400to operate.

After the certain period of time passes, reader/writer apparatus 100starts contactless communication using contactless communication section110 and carries out contactless communication with contactlesscommunication section 410 of IC card section 400, which has been enabledto operate with power supplied from charged power storage section 310.

When power storage section 310 is assumed to be a capacitor, forexample, the certain period of time which provides the reference for thedecision by switching control section 136 during contact type charging,is shorter than when power storage section 310 is a secondary battery,and power charged in the capacitor is immediately supplied to IC cardsection 400.

This allows contactless charging section 120 to carryout contactlesscommunication virtually in parallel with the charging processing.

Therefore, even when power in power storage section 310 of mobile phone300 mounting IC card section 400 as the contactless type IC card hasdies, that is, when the battery is dead or the power storage sectiondies during conversation using mobile phone 300, reader/writer apparatus100 in communication system 200 can carry out contactless communicationusing IC card section 400.

Furthermore, reader/writer apparatus 100 never performs contactlesscommunication processing and contactless charging processing in parallelwith respect to mobile phone 300.

That is, reader/writer apparatus 100 of the present embodiment detectsthat contactless communication has failed, and, when there is apossibility that the battery of mobile phone 300 dies, retriescontactless communication while performing charging.

Thus, unlike the prior art, it is possible to prevent both types ofprocessing from being simultaneously performed on a portable terminalprovided with a contactless IC function and thereby reduce powerconsumption.

Furthermore, in mobile phone 300 in communication system 200, powercontrol section 320 charges power storage section 310 with powerobtained from reader/writer apparatus 100 to and also directly sendspower to the contactless IC.

Thus, even when charging power storage section 310 takes time, withregard to contactless communication, reader/writer apparatus 100 canimmediately respond to contactless communication via contactlesscommunication section 110 after a certain period of time passes.

Although a case has been described with respect to communication system200 of the present embodiment where contactless communication section410 and contactless charging section 330 in mobile phone 300 havedifferent configurations, but the present invention is not limited tothis, and it is possible to provide a common configuration as aninformation transmission section having functions for both contactlesscommunication and contactless charging.

Also a case has been explained where contactless communication section110 and contactless charging section 120 in reader/writer apparatus 100have different configurations, but the present invention is not limitedto this, and it is possible to provide a common configuration as aninformation transmission section having functions for both contactlesscommunication and contactless charging.

In the present embodiment, reader/writer apparatus 100 stops contactlesscommunication after detecting contactless communication fails viacontactless communication section 110 and then starts contactlesscharging, but the present invention is not limited to this, and, aftercontactless communication fails, it is also possible to continuetransmitting only a contactless communication request and performcontactless charging together with this request. However, when data isactually transmitted and received by contactless communication, supposetransmission and reception of data is carried out after stoppingcontactless charging.

The communication system according to the present invention is notlimited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implementedmodified in various ways.

Here, although a case has been described where the present invention isconfigured by hardware, the present invention may also be implemented bysoftware. For example, an algorithm of contactless communication andcontactless charging including the communication method according to thepresent invention may be written in a programming language, and thisprogram may be stored in a memory, executed by an information processingsection, and it is thereby possible to realize functions similar tothose of the apparatus according to the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The reader/writer apparatus, communication system and contactlesscommunication method according to the present invention provides anadvantage of carrying out contactless communication with a contactlesstype IC card with reduced power consumption even when the battery of themobile phone mounting the contact less type IC card without a built-inpower source dies, and is useful as a mobile phone mounting acontactless type IC card and having a contactless IC function.

1. A contactless type integrated circuit card reader/writer apparatusthat carries out contactless communication with a contactless typeintegrated circuit card, the contactless type integrated circuit cardnot having a built-in power source and receiving a supply of power frotha power storage section in a portable terminal in which the contactlesstype integrated circuit card is mounted, the contactless type integratedcircuit card reader/writer apparatus comprising: a contactlesscommunication section that sends and receives information to and fromthe contactless type integrated circuit card by contactlesscommunication; a contactless charging section that supplies power to thepower storage section in the portable terminal in a contactless manner;a detection section that detects a state of contactless communication;and a control section that controls switching between the contactlesscommunication section and the contactless charging section based on thedetection result in the detection section to select between sending andreceiving information by the contactless communication, and supplyingpower in a contactless manner, wherein, when contactless communicationwith the contactless type integrated circuit card using the contactlesscommunication section is not possible, the control section controls thecontactless charging section to charge the power storage section in theportable terminal and then controls the contactless communicationsection again to carry out contactless communication.
 2. Thereader/writer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power storagesection is a secondary battery.
 3. The reader/writer apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the power storage section is a capacitor.
 4. Acommunication system comprising a portable terminal mounting acontactless type integrated circuit card that does not have a built-inpower source, and a contactless type integrated circuit cardreader/writer apparatus that carries out contactless communication withthe contactless type integrated circuit card, the portable terminalcomprising a power storage section, which is a power source of theportable terminal and which supplies power to the contactless typeintegrated circuit card, the reader/writer apparatus comprising: acontactless communication section that sends and receives information toand from the contactless type integrated circuit card by contactlesscommunication; a contactless charging section that supplies power to thepower storage section in the portable terminal in a contactless manner;a detection section that detects a state of contactless communication;and a control section that controls switching between the contactlesscommunication section and the contactless charging section based on thedetection result in the detection section to select between sending andreceiving information by the contactless communication and supplyingpower in a contactless manner, wherein, when contactless communicationwith the contactless type integrated circuit card using the contactlesscommunication section is not possible, the control section controls thecontactless charging section to charge the power storage section in theportable terminal and then controls the contactless communicationsection again to carry out contactless communication.
 5. Thecommunication system according to claim 4, wherein the power storagesection is a secondary battery.
 6. The communication system according toclaim 4, wherein the power storage section is a capacitor.
 7. Acontactless communication method for carrying out contactlesscommunication with a contactless type integrated circuit card that doesnot have a built-in power source and receives a supply of power from apower storage section in a portable terminal in which the contactlesstype integrated circuit card is mounted, the contactless communicationmethod comprising: a contactless communication step sending andreceiving information to and from the contactless type integratedcircuit card by contactless communication; a contactless charging stepof stopping the contactless communication when contactless communicationis not possible and supplying power to the power storage section in theportable terminal in a contactless manner; and carrying out contactlesscommunication again after performing the contactless power supply.